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Tuesday, October 28, 2025
Come As You Aren't
'Clothes make a statement, costumes tell a story.'
Today's theme, if you haven't guessed yet, is costumes. Given we're now well into the spooky season, with HALLOWEEN later this week, most people have their costumes already picked out. If you've haven't however, maybe you'll see a costume here you might want to try out.
FH readers know I love HALLOWEEN. It goes beyond just my love of mini-bars and watching scary movies. Like so many of you, I came from a dysfunctional family. There were never big family gatherings around October 31st, no family meals, no family pressures, no gifts to give.
HALLOWEEN is thought of as a night to wear a costume, and to be someone else. For so many of us however, especially in the LGBTQ community, the complete opposite was true. October 31sst was never about being someone else, that was something many of us felt the need to do every day, especially with certain family members and with co-workers. October 31st was about being ourselves, or at least unleashing parts of ourselves, parts we needed to hide the other 364 days of the year.
For so many holidays, I've had the pleasure of featuring the work of FLYFOTO. FLYFOTO's work is both incredibly erotic and fun, but also often extremely edgy and raw. Thanks FLYFOTO for sharing your work!
Eye On The Prize
Oscar Wilde
If you couldn't attend the annual FH Halloween bash last weekend, don't be boo disappointed. As usual our reporters captured most of the action, including the winners of the costume parade. Check out the highlights, as well as pics from the afterparty, on the THE NEXT PAGE HERE: Also looks for visual coverage of the After-Party and the new In & Out contest HERE:
The last three images featured the winners of a three-way tie in one of our most competitive contests. As you can see, the supreme stretcher of spandex contest had some stiff competition!
Rescue Me? Conner & Christian by RMark Photography
' I thought you like it when I come to your rescue. It sure seems like it, the way you take unnecessary risks.'
Superman
When it comes to Halloween, one can wear an individual costume, or be part of a group costume or couples costumes. Couples and friends have been wearing matching "couple costumes" often as a public display of affection, for centuries. It really became a trend however, in the late 1990s and 2000s, when celebrities and others were looking not so much to win a prize, but to gain attention on-line.
When it comes to Superhero costumes however, usually, couples dress as a team like Batman & Robin or a group like the Avengers. So what happens when you put two alpha male cape crusaders together... Especially when they come from different Universes. (one DC one Marvel) Well, as you can see, when our Superman and Spider-Man got together, the testosterone, fighter and defender energy gets intense, making it difficult to see who exactly.. is rescuing who?
As you can see things, when these two cape crusaders got together, things quickly got carnally combustible. Some of you might recognize the faces and the hot bodies squeezed into their spandex. I featured both Conner (above left) and Christian (above right) previously on the site. Both were showing off their Christmas balls in a holiday post from Roger from RMark Photography. (HERE:) I also previously featured Christian's work photographer Justin Thai. (HERE:)
When Roger was planning a recent trip to New York, he called several models he's previously worked with to see if any were free to shoot. Roger had enjoyed his previous experiences working with both Conner and Christian, and both were interested in posing again. It was Conner who suggested posing with another model, and when Roger asked Christian if he was interested, Christian responded favorably. Conner and Christian had previously talked on line. But, they had never met in person.
The day of the photo session, I photographed each of them individually. then the two of them together. They put on the costumes, got into character, and then tried some possible poses that I had previously planned. It turned into a long, but rewarding session, as after trying the poses I had planned, we went on to try various poses and ideas from Conner and Christian.'
'I’m a big nerd and I go to comic con every year and always go all out. For the shoot I was the Miguel O’Hara version of Spider-Man. He’s pretty cool and like myself he’s also Half white/Mexican-American, so it’s really interesting to be able to identify and play into such a specific niche of my personal identity while also being able to dig into his more dark and edgy personality (which doesn’t usually align with my own real world personality) Although I gotta say my favorite part was just working with Conner, who is equally as into superhero stuff as I am, and we had great chemistry the entire time.'
J.Kosmic: Aspects of Play
'A costume is the base of any cosplay, but it's that play aspect that evolves it from being just a costume.'
For many of us, it's not until October that we start thinking about costumes. Especially these days, when finding the perfect Halloween costume can be a challenging task. As kids, we were ok with the plastic wrapped costume our moms would buy at Wal-Mart. As we got older however, there's more pressure to get creative for the upcoming Halloween party.
I love Halloween, and I love costumes, but have never really tested the Cosplay waters. I'm really fascinated by Cosplayers, their creativity, and their ability to experience that feeling of Halloween throughout the year. I'm guessing Cosplayers are always thinking about their next costume. I'm sure every piece of fabric, jewelry, hats and accessories they see are viewed through the eyes of how it can be used to create a costume or character.
Although Costumes and Cosplay are definitely connected, Halloween and Cosplay do not necessarily share the same nexus. In order to fully understand, I decided to go directly to one of the kings of Cosplay, and one of the hottest, J_Kosmic. Many of you know J's work from his Patreon and social media sites, but I discovered him searching for speedo pics.
Earlier this year, I was looking for images of hot guys in maple leaf speedos to feature on Canada Day. Up popped a shot of J and I instantly got in touch about featuring it on the site. I also asked J if he'd be up to create some content for FH, and I'm sure some of you are still salivating over his Thanksgiving spread earlier this month. (HERE:) For today's Costume theme day, J answers some of my Cosplay questions, and shares some brand new images, as some of his past favorite costumes.
What would say the biggest difference is between 'costume' and 'Cosplay'
A costume is the base of any cosplay, but it's that play aspect that evolves it from being just a costume. This can take many forms, but ultimately, embodying the character is important. Whether it's posing like them, building additional props, or acting out their personality, becoming the character is what differentiates a costume from a cosplay.
Most of us think of costumes around Halloween, what is the busiest time of year for Cosplay?
We have a cosplay season where I live, the first con taking place at the end of April, and the last one being late September. I'm pretty active from that time plus Halloween in October. July is a slight break in between, but November to March is when I have down time from cons, as I can cosplay at any time.
When you were growing up, what comic book, television characters first grabbed your attention?
Growing up, the characters that grabbed my attention were Poison Ivy from Batman, Hexadecimal from Reboot, and the X-Men in general.
Can you share the first time you officially started Cosplay? Who was the character you inhabited?
I officially started to cosplay at conventions in 2017, Quicksilver being my first cosplay. I modified some athletic spandex to fit the character's comic appearance.
What characters are on your bucket list to create?
The main character on my cosplay bucket list is Angel/Archangel from the X-Men. I'd love to make my own wings and do more crafting overall.You regularly attend conventions, what has been your best experience thus far?
My best con experience was meeting friends we now attend cons and plan cosplays with back in 2023. My favorite convention was FanX in Salt Lake City. Most of our larger local conventions are all produced by the same company, but FanX is a separate entity. They had a great variety of guests, reasonable pricing for photo ops, and I had fun with friends there as well
What has been the best feedback you've gotten so far?
The best feedback I've gotten was to show variety in poses. Especially early on, I had maybe 2 poses so taking photos of a large variety of characters has allowed me to expand.
What led you create a Patreon page to share your work?
What led me to creating a Patreon was having a platform beyond social media where I wasn't heavily censored. I have an excess of stuff beyond what I share on social media and feel like that's the perfect place to share a lot of behind the scenes and unseen photos or videos. You can expect that sort of content as well as early access to stuff I may share on social media later on. Its a great place to throw stuff at the wall and see what sticks, and it inspired me to move on to YouTube as well.
Are there are rules for contests/conventions on how much skin can be shown?
I try not to show too much skin at conventions as a lot of the cons are family friendly and all ages. Goblin Prince Havok pushed that line a bit but everything that needed to be covered was covered. I try to be mindful of the con I'm at when it comes to showing skin vs photoshoots outside conventions
So, how does J. Kosmic celebrate Halloween? Lots of Cosplay events, or home in your comfy clothes giving out candy?
I celebrate Halloween every year as Halloween is partially what inspired me to cosplay. We used to go to the bar but it got stale. As the crowd got younger, less people dressed up and losing a costume contest to a Mario and Luigi in a harness when I put in effort was a mood killer. Luckily we found a party we like, where people put effort into costumes and that raises money for charity. I hand out candy when I can, and I am in costume when I do so.
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